Berghers, Alfons

(1624-1689)

   Born in Brussels on 9 September 1624 into a noble family, Alfons Berghers studied arts and law at the university of Leuven and was ordained in 1650. He was appointed archbishop of Mechelen, by the queen of Spain, on 3 August 1669, and, like all archbishops in the 17th century, he resided in Brussels, where he sat on the Council of State and served as chief chaplain to the Spanish army in the Spanish Netherlands. An ardent anti-Jansenist, Berghers quarreled with the Jesuits over religious education issues and drew the ire of city magistrates. Attempts in Rome and Madrid to secure his removal failed, and he died in Brussels on 7 June 1689.